Johnson's Witnesses Don't Recall Details Of Threat

In Prison For Life, The Middle-school Shooter Hoped Friends Could Show He Was Afraid Of The Boy He Killed.

August 24, 2001|By Frank Stanfield, Sentinel Correspondent

TAVARES -- Two witnesses who supposedly can back Keith Johnson's claim that he was threatened the night before he killed a fellow student in 1995 are not proving to be helpful in his appeal, records show.

Keith Johnson was 14 when he blazed away with a 9mm handgun on a crowded walkway at Tavares Middle School, killing Joey Summerall, 13, and sending hundreds of students scurrying for cover.

He was sentenced to life in prison but now he claims his attorneys should have called two witnesses who can testify that he felt threatened the night before the shooting.

Joey fired a gun at him while he stood outside a Leesburg video store, Johnson said, and made threatening remarks.

One witness, Michael P. Herman, 20, has remained a good friend, even visiting him in prison along with Johnson's mother, Julie Johnson.

Herman insisted in an interview last week with State Attorney's Office investigator Pat Kicklighter that he remembered that the incident took place the night before the slaying.

But when asked if he could risk a perjury charge by testifying in a court of law, Herman said an incident without gunplay might have taken place the weekend before.

"I don't know who was yelling it, but he said something is going to happen the next day at school," records quote Herman. "You are going down, or something, tomorrow at school."

Herman said he thought someone even said something like "dead tomorrow.''

Another witness listed by Johnson, Dwayne Huffman, hasn't seen his school chum since the slaying. Huffman said the incident he recalls happened earlier in the summer.

He saw two men in a car and possibly a gun, but there was no gunfire, he said. One of the men said his name, Huffman said.

The State Attorney's Office is preparing a response to Johnson's request for a hearing on his appeal. The appeal and the response will go to Circuit Judge Don Briggs, who presided over the trial.